Dwain Chambers And David Millar Could Compete At Olympic Games - But Should They? (POLL)

A sports lawyer has claimed that Dwain Chambers and David Millar will be able to compete at this year's Olympics.

Both athletes are banned thanks to the British Olympic Association's by-law that prevents drug cheats from participating, however lawyer Howard Jacobs has predicted that a special hearing on Monday will render the by-law invalid.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear the BOA's challenge against the World Anti-Doping Agency's ruling that the non-compliance of its by-law with the Wada code makes it unenforceable.

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Jacobs previously helped American runner LaShawn Merritt overturn his Olympic doping ban, and he told BBC Sport: "When I heard the BOA's response to the Cas decision, what they were saying sounded a lot like what the International Olympic Committee were saying, trying to characterise the rule as an eligibility rule as opposed to a sanction.

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"It was exactly the same thing as the IOC did in our case, so it strikes me that this type of characterisation is not likely to be successful."

Merritt won two golds at Beijing in the 400 metres and 4x400m relay but in 2010 tested positive for a banned steroid, after he failed three tests, and was handed a two-year suspension.

That was later reduced to 21 months in early 2010, but Merritt argued it went beyond Wada sanctions of a maximum two-year ban.

Cas then heard the appeal and judged that the IOC's rule was illegitimate as it amounted to an additional sanction.

David Millar competing at last year's Tour de France

Thirty-three-year-old Chambers tried to challenge the by-law through the High Court prior to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but didn't succeed.

The disgraced sprinter failed an out-of-competition drug test in 2003, and subsequently admitted to the use of performance enhancing substances, which saw him banned from athletics for two years and from the Olympic Games for life.

Cyclist Millar, meanwhile, was banned for two years in 2004 after he used the blood-boosting agent EPO.